Posted by The G on June 25, 2015 under GNN, The G Spot | Comments are off for this article

Photo of the movie poster and moderately sized rant by G.

The Yes Men Are Revolting

Before we discuss the must see movie, “The Yes Men Are Revolting,” let me ask you if you’ve ever heard of The Yes Men? If you answered no, I am here to shame you into getting your head out of your ass and telling you to wake up. The news media loves to report on all of the “isms” and all the “phobias” – racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, phobia, phobia, phobia, ism, ism, ism. The media has cleverly packaged these crimes against humanity it as “your life is totally fucked because of these people.” Before you call me a callus asshole (maybe it’s too late?), yes – all these problems suck. Yes, it’s a ridiculous shame that in 2015 we still have people killing others because their belief system varies from that of another person. Yes, it is ridiculous that people are still holding grudges about injustices that happened long before any of us were alive. Yes, it’s ridiculous that there are people who hate you because you are different than they are. When you think about it, haters have existed since the beginning of time. There are always a few bad apples ruining it for everyone? What is being done about it aside from spreading more fear?

Are we teaching the “theory of gravity” in schools? The “theory of gravity” is this: take a black person, a white person, a man, a woman, a straight, a gay, a religious person and a non religious person and have them all leap off a 50 story building at the same time and who is the superior group? Gravity doesn’t give a fuck about your circumstances! Therefore, we should respect the laws of gravity and we should respect ourselves! You don’t need a degree in physics to figure this out!

I see a lot of Facebook and Twitter bitterness but I am not really seeing people taking action to make change happen. I think people get off on being angry, to be perfectly honest. This is why people share stories before fact checking and this is why there is an influx of people complaining but not taking action. The reason I bring all this up is because while everyone is ‘Facebook madder than hell’ about all these issues, the one issue that affects EVERYBODY ON THIS PLANET – global warming (or climate change), is an issue that is being swept under the rug.

While we are being distracted by all this unnecessary bullshit, corporations and governments are ensuring that we are all one step closer to the grave. There can’t be haters if there are no people left on the planet.

Enter the Yes Men. For over a decade, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (Not their real names, which makes them even more awesome), have been pulling pranks on corporations and government agencies to bring forth change. They are not sharing stories on social media about cute animals and they are not writing posts about the top 20 reasons a particular issue makes them mad. Instead, they are taking action and more than that, they are documenting it to try and spread these important messages to the masses.

I could not describe the Yes Men better than they way they do on their website, so I am just going to quote it verbatim because this paragraph alone is the reason you should not only know who they are, but follow their every move for updates on how to make this world a better place.

“The Yes Men are a group who use any means necessary to agree their way into the fortified compounds of commerce, and then smuggle out the stories of their undercover escapades to provide a public glimpse at the behind-the-scenes world of big business. The stories are often both shocking and hilarious. They have been called “the Jonathan Swift of the Jackass generation” by author Naomi Klein. The Yes Men have impersonated World Trade Organization, Dow Chemical Corporation, and Bush administration spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world. They do this (a) in order to demonstrate some of the mechanisms that keep bad people and ideas in power, and (b) because it’s absurdly fun. Their main goal is to focus attention on the dangers of economic policies that place the rights of capital before the needs of people and the environment. Right now they’re focused on passing carbon emissions laws in the USA.”

Each of their films – “The Yes Men,” “The Yes Men Fix The World,” and their latest “The Yes Men Are Revolting” are part documentary, part prank and if you think you have balls, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen the Yes Men in action. They are like the Banksys of environmental issues and they are truly gods who walk amongst us for risking everything to try and bring forth positive change.

Please please please go see their films. They are available to stream and “The Yes Men Are Revolting” is showing in select theaters across the country. Please please please sign up for updates on their site. Please please please become a member of The Yes Lab, where you can help carry out these types of projects on your own. The world depends on it.

Posted by The G on October 20, 2009 under GNN | Comments are off for this article

Photo by G.

The Yes Men - Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum

Yesterday, our favorite merry pranksters, The Yes Men circulated a memo claiming to be the Chamber of Commerce stating they’ve changed their position on global warming. This too good to be true news spread quickly before it was discovered to be a hoax. You can read more about this here.

You can read more about the Yes Men and see pictures from my encounter with them here.

The Yes Men are activists Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano who create fake websites mocking evil organizations and sooner or later, they get real invitations to speak at conferences and appear on TV, where they pose as spokespeople for these organizations. Once invited, they seek to expose the real meanings of these organizations ideologies that are often being hidden from the public. In essence, they are like the Banksy’s of film.

Their latest film, The Yes Men Fix The World, picks up where their self-titled first film leaves off. By posting a fake website about Dow Chemicals, they got invited to speak on the BBC news channel where Andy Bichlbaum apologizes for the bad behavior of the company, which lead to the worst chemical spill disaster ever in the city of Bhopol, India. Though the media eventually picked up on the hoax, the Yes Men were able to expose the crimes of this company and get an audience of 300 million viewers to start thinking about corporate responsibility. The film features several other “hoaxes” that will leave you on the edge of your seat laughing until it hurts and pondering to yourself – “how in the hell do those guys pull it off!?” The film is truly genius and if you feel like you are being taken advantage of by the man in any way, this is the film for you.

Several months ago in New York City, the Yes Men printed up thousands of copies of their “Dream Edition” of the New York Times, where every story in it was good news and distributed it to unsuspecting New Yorkers. As people were reading the headlines, they were overjoyed by the good news, only to find out the world is still a very cruel place. Copies of the paper are already selling for hundreds of dollars on Ebay, but the gracious Yes Men gave everyone in attendance a copy of the paper.